Chapter 148: !

After the London Major concluded, the major teams went on break one after another, allowing themselves a period of relaxation.

Although the fans had no matches to watch for the time being, they were keeping a close eye on the transfer market, speculating which teams would reinforce their rosters this year and which players would depart.

Every year, the transfer period is a carnival for the "Fog-Blind" and the "A-Short Defender."

It was just early October, and everyone seemed still immersed in the revelry of the London Major; no definitive transfer news had emerged yet.

The first CS: GO news of October was a push notification from HLTV congratulating "Director" on winning the 2018 ESL One New York MVP. However, it is worth mentioning that Liquid actually lost that final, finishing only as runners-up.

Winning the Finals MVP as a member of the losing side was enough to demonstrate the Director's outstanding performance throughout the tournament.

One could tell just how happy he was from the MVP photo he took.

Immediately following this, the first piece of transfer news finally leaked: USTILO and Nifty announced their departure from Renegades, while Liazz and Gratisfaction announced they were officially joining.

Right after that, the second piece of news came from the famous insider OverDrive: the four standout rookies from this Major had all signed contracts with their original teams.

Upon seeing this, Xu Beifang exclaimed, "The most absurd episode yet."

Pasha and Neo hadn't been able to connect him with any top-tier teams; only two second-tier CIS teams could afford his current market-value salary and were willing to offer a trial.

Somewhat unexpectedly, perhaps due to NiKo, FaZe took the initiative to communicate with him, showing interest in having him serve as a substitute for Guardian for a few months.

Guardian's recent injuries had become apparent, already affecting his training, so they were considering a backup plan.

FaZe's philosophy was to buy finished products, but after this Major, Xu Beifang—who had dragged his team into the Top 8 single-handedly—was already world-famous in the CS: GO circle, fitting FaZe's philosophy perfectly.

However, Xu Beifang hadn't agreed to just be a substitute for Guardian yet; after all, the transfer period had only just begun, and he could still afford to be picky.

After some consideration, Xu Beifang drafted a message:

"Hello everyone, I am the former VP rifler Nice. My temporary contract with VP has been bought out by me, and I am currently a free agent. My goal is to find a team that hopes to compete for championships. Interested teams can contact me via private message or send an email to this address."

Xu Beifang checked it once and then posted this update on all his social media platforms to remind everyone—he was still looking for a team.

Otherwise, with OverDrive pulling that stunt, people might really believe all the rookies had signed contracts with their original teams.

Ropz, Director, and Smooya might not have thoughts of transferring, but Xu Beifang needed a job!

You have to know that even without inside information, there are still guys like OverDrive spreading smoke bombs; he couldn't let that delay him.

Xu Beifang's job-seeking post was equivalent to dropping a bombshell on the entire transfer market!

Paris, France.

Inside the Vitality training base.

Vitality founder Neo sat in his office, with Zywoo and his mother sitting opposite him.

Facing this rising star of French CS: GO, Neo asked with a smile, "What is your expected salary?"

Zywoo touched his head, feeling a bit at a loss, and looked toward his mother for help.

His mother, however, ignored him, letting him handle these matters alone; she was only there today to accompany Zywoo, as the child had to grow up eventually.

"If you could give me 2,000 Euros... no, 1,500 Euros would satisfy me completely," Zywoo said with a shy smile.

Neo was infected by the boy's smile and responded, "That price is far lower than other players' salaries..."

Zywoo looked at him with anticipation.

"But I still cannot pay you that much salary; after all, you are a rookie."

But the result was disappointing.

"However, if you can show a good level of performance in upcoming matches, we will pay you the same salary as the others." Although Neo was optimistic about the future prospects of esports, as a businessman, he still began his habitual practice of "painting a pie."

Zywoo nodded and finally signed his name on the contract.

Although Vitality was a new team, it had many French legends like apEX, NBK, and Happy; it was already the largest club he had ever trialed for.

He believed that as long as he played well, he would definitely be able to earn the same salary as everyone else in the future.

Neo watched Zywoo sign his name and said to him with a smile, "You will have a bright future at Vitality!"

Just then, apEX knocked on the door, greeted Zywoo, and walked in, saying, "Neo, bombshell news! That Nice from VP is now a free agent!! Shall we buy him?"

Because the CS: GO division had just been founded, many things at Vitality weren't rigorous yet, but one thing was certain: apEX and his group of French legends had immense influence within the CS: GO division.

"Nice, that Best Rookie??" Neo still had some impression of him; after all, as the boss of Vitality, he still kept track of some outstanding players in the market.

This player Nice, because of his outstanding individual skill and the great achievement of leading his team into the Top 8, and even being able to speak three languages—English, Polish, and Chinese—was already highly valued in the market.

"Did VP not renew his contract?" Neo was a bit puzzled; VP shouldn't let such a good player go.

apEX replied, "I just messaged Pasha, and he said Nice signed a temporary contract and bought himself out for a few hundred Euros. This young man has ideas."

"I thought this guy's level was good when I saw him on FACEIT before, but I didn't expect him to soar once he joined VP. Now that we have a chance to bring him in, we must seize this opportunity!"

What you can't get is always stirring; apEX had watched Nice shine on the stage earlier and felt nothing but regret.

Having just seen Nice's update on Twitter and discovering he was looking for a job, apEX immediately came to ask the boss, Neo, about the situation.

Although he really wanted to bring this player into the fold, the club wasn't his own, after all, and there were many things to consider.

This boss, who shared the same name as the God of War Neo, was slightly hesitant:

"But aren't we already at a full roster? With Zywoo, we have five players; how are we supposed to handle this?"

After the contract signing was just completed, Vitality now had apEX, NBK, Happy, RpK, and Zywoo.

apEX replied, "Happy's form has declined severely; he doesn't really want to play. He told me long ago that as long as we find someone to substitute for him, he can retreat behind the scenes."

"But what about the communication issue? We are currently a pure French-speaking squad. If we let Nice join, should we make him learn French, or should we switch to English communication?"

Because there was the precedent of G2, their acceptance of international rosters wasn't low.

But the problem right in front of them was—if they brought Nice in, how would they handle the communication?

apEX was speechless for a moment, waiting a long while before replying, "He can learn slowly. When s1mple first joined Liquid, his English was so poor, but didn't he still go on a rampage?"

s1mple was brought into Liquid in 2016, and because his English level was so poor at the time, it even led to the legendary scene of "Why you bully me?"

But his performance at Liquid at the time was also quite good, so apEX believed that as long as he was willing to work hard, there would be results later.

"Um..." Zywoo raised his hand weakly, "Actually, Nice can speak French."

apEX and Neo turned their heads instantly to look at Zywoo: "What did you say?"

Zywoo felt a bit scared by the burning gazes of apEX and Neo, but still said truthfully, "Nice can speak French. During the London Major show match, it was him who commanded me in French while we played..."

apEX pointed at Zywoo with his forearm and then said to Neo, "Did you hear that?? Let's not hesitate!! If we miss this, we won't have another chance!!"

"Think about it, Nice could lead that bunch of guys from VP into the Major Top 8; if he adds me to the mix, I don't even dare to imagine the result! We could really just rampage through those G2 guys!"

Neo finally had no reason to object, only saying weakly, "I'll send out a contract later, but the salary might be a bit lower than the market rate. You know Vitality's current operating situation isn't good."

"As long as you agree, it's fine." apEX could also understand the club's situation; the CS: GO division had just been founded and had no results yet, so it was basically impossible to offer a very high salary.

If Neo could nod, then many things would be easy to handle later.

He believed that with his own charisma, he could move Nice's heart.

When the time came, he would sit in the middle, with Zywoo on the left and Nice on the right—he'd even give a slap to any dog that walked by!

Xu Beifang's update caused intense discussion throughout the entire circle.

Fans of different teams below were tagging their own teams, letting them know about this news.

His performance in the London Major had already proven himself, and everyone understood this player's strength. Thinking about adding such a firepower point to their team, wouldn't their favorite team's strength take off?

Under the enthusiasm of the vast number of netizens, the official accounts of G2, FaZe, and C9 all appeared under Xu Beifang's update.

But these official accounts were just there to join in the fun; none of them made any official statement.

In this situation, the fans started playing games themselves. They began taking Xu Beifang's VP jersey promo photos, cropping out the VP logo, replacing it with NaVi, G2, FaZe, etc., and spreading fake news on the forums.

Later, the game of finding a team for Nice upgraded to version 2.0. This time it was simply a GIF with different versions of Nice, seeing who they would land on.

NiKo posted a short video on his Twitter, and his screenshot landed on—!

The audience in the comment section exclaimed that he was an expert.

As for the protagonist at the center of the event, after Xu Beifang posted the update, he received far more contracts than he had imagined.

His English level had already been well demonstrated at the London Major, so most of the English-speaking teams sent him invitations.

FaZe was the first team to invite him, but because it was only a substitute rotation, Xu Beifang wasn't considering it for the time being.

The second team to contact Xu Beifang was Fnatic; after this Major, they planned to bench Draken and Flusha.

At the same time, they showed him their brand-new roster. Before buying Xu Beifang, they had pulled up the Belgian rifler ScreaM, who was struggling in second-tier events—this guy was the "Headshot Brother" with distinct characteristics in the professional scene.

If Xu Beifang were willing to sign this contract, he could get a monthly salary of 16,000 Euros with a 3-year term.

If he agreed, the Fnatic roster would become: JW, KRIMZ, Xizt, Nice, ScreaM.

This roster, as long as the "Big Baldy" and JW's form didn't decline, was a roster with a chance to compete for championships.

However, Xu Beifang didn't agree directly; he was still in a wait-and-see state, as there were quite a few teams contacting him.

And after he calmed down and analyzed it, he found that this team actually wasn't that great.

Although the roster looked famous one by one, Xizt was quite old, and it was estimated he would retire in about a year.

JW's form was also declining; at the Major, he clearly lacked the dominance of a top-tier sniper.

As for the Headshot Brother, needless to say, his reputation since his debut had been polarized. His playstyle of only tapping made him very popular in the community, but once he lost that invincible positioning ability, his tapping often just felt like "scraping" the opponent.

And if Xu Beifang remembered correctly, it was already the end of the Headshot Brother's career; dragging him into matches was like a ticking time bomb.

You never knew if he would blow up the opponent or blow up his own teammates.

After these two European teams, the rest were a large number of North American teams.

C9 was the first team to extend an olive branch to Xu Beifang. They won the Major championship in the first half of the year, but didn't even make it into the Champions Stage in the second half; they were desperate to add new blood to revitalize the team.

So after replacing STYKO, knowing Xu Beifang had become a free agent, they took the initiative to find him, wanting to pull him into the team, intending to use Xu Beifang's drive to compensate for C9's current lethargy.

But just replacing STYKO, Xu Beifang still felt there was no hope for that C9 roster, so he didn't plan to consider C9.

The North American second-in-command, Complexity, was even more exaggerated; their boss said directly in the contract that they could build the team around Xu Beifang and were willing to pay a salary of 20,000 USD per month—the main point was being wealthy and generous.

They could even proactively recruit according to Xu Beifang's needs, as long as they got results.

The bold Complexity successfully made Xu Beifang pause his gaze and chose to keep them in mind.

As for the remaining second-tier teams, Xu Beifang compared them all, and none were attractive.

Then, he saw an unexpected contract.

A contract from Vitality.

It was hard for Xu Beifang not to see this club's contract, because ever since he sent the message, apEX had been sending him an email on time every day, the general gist of which was—Vitality is great now; with your breakthrough and my command, what championship can't we win?

Vitality's salary was a bit lower than other teams, and initially, Xu Beifang hadn't included them in his intentions; after all, French "palace intrigue" was famous, and he didn't want to go there and become a sacrificial lamb.

But as the saying goes, "a good man fears a pestering woman," and Xu Beifang couldn't withstand apEX's daily email bombardment, eventually including Vitality in his considerations.

Eating a meal and continuing to type; after the off-season, the "double prison" with the "Big Sweet Potato" is about to begin...

And also, the Vitality boss is named Neo, which is the same name but a different person from the VP player Neo...

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 149 =====